Rotary wing flying machine



Aug. 10, 1937. c. DORNIER ROTARY WING FLYING MACHINE Original Filed Jan.26, 1934 CZazuZeon/zn'er.

Patented Ang. Io, 1937 ,PATENT OFFICE no'rAnr WING FLYING MACHINE ClaudeDornier, Friedrichshafen-on-Bodensce, Germany Application January 26,1934, serial Nn. 108,395.

Renewed June 24, 1937. In Gema 'Ihis invention. relates to ylng machinesusing common rotors for providing both lift power and propelling power,more particularly to machines having rotors consisting of a plurality ofpower actuated wings producing lift Vand propelling power for saidmachines and of wings actuated by the air current relative to themachine and/or of wings actuated by said power actuated wings.

An object of my invention resides in the provision of a ilying machinehaving a rotor for providing lift and propelling power, said rotorconsisting of a power driven and a freely rotating rotor assisting eachother and the amount of power required.

' A further object of this invention is the provision of a pneumaticallyoperated rotor consisting of hollowv wings producing lift and propellingpower and driven by the reactive force of an air current circulatingtherein and of wings exicluded from said internal air current and havingmost favorable aerodynamical configuration and producing lift andpropelling power at best ef- Y ciency conditions,

An object of the present invention is to provide a llying machine havinga rotor for providing lift and propelling power and the utmost ofmaneuvering ability combined with small power requirements.'

3 An object of my invention resides in the provision of a ying machineof the type described and having means for perfectly'balancing themachine and, particularly, for counteracting the torque of the rotor. YY

An object of my invention is. to provide a rotorfor flying machines thelift and propelling power of which is provided by a rotor system, saidrotor being adapted to' secure utmost maneuvering possibility.

4o A further object of'A this invention resides Vin the provision'ofy arotor for ying machines, said rotor consisting substantially of acombination of power driven wings and wings driven by the air currentssurrounding the rotor, whereby one type of wings eiectively assists theother type of wings in producing the utmost in lift and propelling powerand greatest maneuvering capacity.

A Further and other objects of the present invention will be hereinafterset forth in the accompanying specification and claims and shown in thedrawing which, by way .of illustration,

shows what I now consider to be a preferred' embodiment of my invention.In the drawing:

Inv January I 2 claims. (ci. 24A- Ivi Fig. 1 is a part sectional sideView of a flying machine according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a flying machine according to my inventionhaving a pneumatically driven rotor.

Referring more particularly to the drawing:

Fig. 1 illustrates a flying machine having a ,system ofrotating wingsproviding lift as well as propelling power. The axis of rotation of thesystem and the horizon form an angle open 10 in forward and'upwarddirection when flying substantially horizontally', said angle beingalways greater than 0 and smaller than 90. It' must be understood thatthe ilying machine according to my invention does not have one or 15moreseparate and individual propellers for moving forward and one ormore lifting air screws for upward or downward movement, but has onlyone system of revolving wings serving both lillrlJOses.` Large machinesof lthe type described 20 in this specification may be provided with aplurality of lrotating wing systems having parallel axes of'rotation.The rotor system consists of actively propelling wings and, partly, ofwings serving other purposes, and the machine operates partly as anautogyro. Its manoeuvrability is greater than that of a machine the liftof which depends on a system of freely rotating wings only, while, on'the other hand, the use of the windmill system causes a considerable 30saving in power. 'Ihe two wing systems combined in onesystem may revolvein the same or in'opposite directions with respect to one another. Oneof the systems is power driven and may be operatively connected with theother. 35 system by means of disconnectable clutchesl and/or gears sothat one system may be mechanically driven by the other `and in order toprovide for a certain predetermined ratio of the individual speeds ofthe two systems. In the em- 40 bodimentl of my invention as per Fig'. 1,wings I are rigidly connected with hollow shaft 2 which is provided atits lower end with a disconnectable coupling 3 connecting it with shaftI and bevel gear 5 driven by bevel gear .'I which is'45 operated bymotor 6. Shaft I0' of the freely rotating Wing system I2 is carried bythe bearings 8 and 9 which are disposed within the hollow shaft 2. WingsI2 are connected to shaft I0 by way of hub II. The system of wings I2 50rotates freely and coaxlally with the wing system I under the influenceof the surrounding air currents. 'I'he wings I2-I2 may be movably linkedto hub I I. Both systems may have dlfferent diameters as shown on Fig.l. In the em- 55 gear I6. Shaft I1 directly operates blower I8. Thehollow wing which extends into the rotor. I3 has reaction nozzles 2li atits end and receives air under pressure from blower I8. Blower -I8 maybe operated so as to draw air from channel 24 and force it out throughthe reaction nozzles 20, or it may be operated so as to draw air inthrough the reaction nozzles 20 and blow it out through channel 24.Guide I9 is provided in the interior of wing I3 and is of suchconfiguration as to facilitate the air iiow.' Cooler25 is located inchannel 24 and is cooled by the air passing landare driven by .saidactuated wings.

through this channel. It may serve as a recooler not served by blower I8there being avwall 2I defifor the cooling agent of motor I5. Wing I4 isnitely sealing the hollow part of wing I3 and preventing airescapingfrom or being drawn into the interior of'the wing except throughnozzles20. Wing I4 does not actuate the rotor and may be designedsmaller than the driving wing I3. Whereas the pneumatically operatedwings I3 are of necessity somewhat bulky because they must accommodatein their interior an air conduit and provisions to obtain utmost powerfrom the reactive air current, wings I4 are designed to produce the bestexternal aerodynamic effect. In a rotor system consisting of four wings,two dia-I metrically opposed wings are actuated by the internal reactiveair current, whereas the other two wings have best aerodynamicalconguration "Ihis se- -cures a well balanced condition of the wholesystem. A rotor having six Wings is preferably designed in the mannerillustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the pneumatically operated wing I4 is eachdesigned as is the system having the wings l I3 and I4, or one designedas is the systemhaving wings I3 and I4'and the other so designed as toserve for actively propelling and lift producing purposes only asisillustrated by the wing system 22-23 shown in dotted lines on Fig. 2,whereby hub 22 is rigidly connected with the rotor system I3-I4; it is)also possible to arrange a plurality of coaxial rotors, some producinglift and propelling power in the same manner as does wing system I3-I4with or without wing system 23 `rigidly connectedtherewith, and theothers serving to produce lift only as does the system vI2--I2 in Fig.1.

While I believe the above described embodiments of my invention to bepreferred embodiments, I wish it to be understood that I do not desireto be'limited to the exact details of design and construction shown anddescribed, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled inthe art.

What I claim is:

1. In a flying machine a wing system consisting of pneumaticallyoperated wings and of wings driven by said operatedwings, each of saidpneumatically operated wings being individually connected with one ofsaid driven wings, said operated and said driven wings Ahaving the samelongitudinal axis, said axis constituting a diameter of said wingsystem, all of said wings rotating about the same axis of rotation.

2. In a flying machine, a. body having an upper fore end and containinga power plant and room for passengers and freight, a plurality ofsystems of rotatable wings for supplying the lift and proprojectingforwards and upwards from the upper fore end of said body, only one ofsaid systems being connected with said power plant and driven thereby.

CLAUDE DORNIER.

